


six of swords

by i_love_your_light



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Discussions of Surgery, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gay Idiots in Love, M/M, Mentions of mild homophobia/transphobia, Modern AU, With the teeniest bit of angst, alcohol use, oh god so fluffy, trans!zuko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26652667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_love_your_light/pseuds/i_love_your_light
Summary: “I wish I had asword!” Sokka said impassionately, clanking his fourth hard cider of the night onto the coffee table.  “If I had a sword, that would solve like… at least two of my problems.”Zuko, still nursing his third bottle, looked thoroughly amused at his boyfriend.  “And which two problems would it solve?”
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 279





	six of swords

**Author's Note:**

> TW/CW: alcohol use, mentions of mild homophobia/transphobia, mentions of surgery

“I wish I had a _sword_!” Sokka said impassionately, clanking his fourth hard cider of the night onto the coffee table. “If I had a sword, that would solve like… at least two of my problems.”

Zuko, still nursing his third bottle, looked thoroughly amused at his boyfriend. “And which two problems would it solve?”

Sokka hummed, head lolling a bit as he thought. “Well, for one. If I carry it with me? On the street? Nobody can be homophobic anymore.” He continued, slurring slightly, as Zuko laughed. “Towards _me_ at least. They’d open their mouths to give me shit about wearing fuckin’ crop tops, or, I don’t know, having my nails painted or like, kissing you in public. They’d try to say their stupid commments and _then_. They’d see. That I’ve got a fucking _sword_. So they’d keep their stupid mouths closed.”

Zuko could feel the pleasant buzz of alcohol setting in under his skin. It had been a while since their schedules had lined up enough that they could dedicate a whole evening to just staying in and getting drunk. That, combined with the fact that they had had a small dinner and _both_ of them were lightweights (Zuko more so than Sokka) meant that the drinks were hitting them relatively fast. 

Drunk Sokka was just an exaggerated version of Sober Sokka- all of Sokka’s defining quirks and behaviors with the dial turned all the way up. And since Zuko was hopelessly in love with everything about Sokka, this was the opposite of an issue. Four ciders in, Sokka was even more prone to rants and rambles about, well, anything. Zuko couldn’t even remember how their conversation had turned from a ranking of the best kinds of noodles to the benefits of sword-ownership, but he certainly wasn’t complaining. 

“When I’m president,” Sokka declared. “My first decree will be to give all the queer people their own swords. Boom. Homophobia and transphobia _solved_.”

“I think that’s a good platform.” Zuko offered diplomatically. 

Sokka beamed, hiccuped once, and scooched over so that he was closer to Zuko on the couch.

“You said it would solve at least two of your problems.” Zuko reminded him, poking his chest. “What’s the other one?”

“Well obviously,” Sokka leaned forward, “it would also solve the problem of me being sad I don’t own a sword.”

Zuko snickered. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Would it make me sexy?”

“You’re already sexy.”

“But would it make me _more_ sexy. Having a sword.”

“Hm.” Zuko considered. “I feel like it’d depend if you were any good at using it.”

Sokka wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Zuko groaned as he realized the innuendo. “You know I didn’t _mean_ it like _that_.”

“I _know_ , but you _love_ it,” Sokka teased, closing the distance between them. Zuko grumbled against his mouth at first but then kissed back, the sweet taste of cider on Sokka’s lips.

After a minute Sokka moved to nuzzle at Zuko’s jawline. Punctuating his words with light kisses, he quietly mumbled, “If I had a sword,” _kiss_ “I could also” _kiss_ “threaten” _kiss_ “anybody who misgenders you.”

Zuko fondly smiled into Sokka’s hair, the shaved sides tickling his unscarred cheek. “Hopefully it will be better in a few months.”

Sokka pulled back to look at him. “Surgery!” he said excitedly. “So soon!”

“I know, I can’t believe it,” Zuko laced their fingers together. “But I can’t wait.”

Sokka started to giggle again. “Ohmygod. Imagine if- ohmygod. _Zuko_. Imagine if like, ok. You’re all ready for surgery, you’re on the operating table or whatever? And,” he wheezed. “And the doctor just walks in with a fucking _sword_. Like, no doctors tools, just a _sword_.”

Zuko also bubbled up with laughter. “Oh god, sword top surgery? One clean chop and I’m done?”

“That’s- _ha!_ \- that’s also part of my presidential platform. Magic-sword universal healthcare. Easy and efficient.”

They were both laughing so hard they could barely get words out. Sokka was someone who laughed with his whole body, arms waving, legs kicking, shoulders shaking. There was a freedom in it that was contagious, that made Zuko forget about the days where he had trained himself to muffle his laughter behind his hand, made him forget to be self-conscious and just focus on the pure delight.

Tears were streaming down Sokka’s face from the force of his laughter. Zuko’s whole body was shaking with laughter, too, it was _hilarious_ , but there was a melancholy sting to the tears welling up in his eyes.

Even in his tipsy state, Sokka noticed immediately and got serious. “Fuck, I’m sorry, we don’t have to joke about it-”

“No, no, it’s-” Zuko took a deep breath, residual laughter bubbling out on the exhale, “It’s fine. It’s _great_ , actually, that’s what- I just- I… You know…” Sokka waited while Zuko found the words because he was _patient_ and _wonderful_. “...sometimes I never thought I’d....like....get to a place where I’d _want_ to joke about it.”

Sokka grabbed Zuko’s face in both hands (a little more aggressive than usual because his sudden movement also made him wobble out of balance and grip onto Zuko so he wouldn’t fall over, but Zuko didn’t mind). 

“Hey,” Sokka said, adoration practically radiating off him, “I’m so proud of you.”

There were tears in Zuko’s eyes again, and then Sokka was pulling him into his chest so he could bury his face in Sokka’s sweatshirt.

“My strong, handsome boy,” Sokka cooed into the top of Zuko’s head, wrapping his arms tightly around him. “My fuckin’ badass baby.”

Zuko was improving. He no longer felt the need to verbally debate Sokka anytime he was on the receiving end of praise, a habit a long time coming to break. He was even getting better at not making a face or cringing away, even though the residual feelings of _i don’t deserve it_ still whispered in the back of his head. But Sokka, ever perceptive, noticed the tiny movement of Zuko’s shoulders curving in as he tried to shy away from the compliments and poked him in the back insistently. “Strong! And handsome! Handsome! And! Strong! That’s you!”

“Mmph.”

“You _know_ I can’t lie when I’m tipsy. So it’s _true_. It’s _facts_.”

“Okayyy,” Zuko relented quietly, grinning into the blue fleece. It was Zuko’s favorite sweatshirt of Sokka’s purely because it was such a pleasant fabric to snuggle his face into. “You’re soft.”

“It is part of my boyfriend duties,” Sokka said matter-of-factly, hiccuping again. “Wear soft clothes, say nice words, give lots of kisses.” He smacked a noisy kiss to the top of Zuko’s head and Zuko giggled. “And also protect my beloved with a sword.”

Zuko removed his face from the comfort of Sokka’s sweatshirt (somewhat reluctantly) so he could give his boyfriend a proper kiss (as part of his boyfriend duties). 

“I drew the six of swords this morning,” he murmured as he pulled away.

Sokka was not as much of a believer in the power of tarot as Zuko was. In fact, Sokka mostly thought it was meaningless superstition (although Zuko had once caught him frantically googling the meaning of a card after Zuko gave him an impromptu reading). But he knew Zuko loved it, and Sokka loved Zuko, so he indulged him.

“What does that one mean?” Sokka asked. “Does it mean we’ll get six swords?”

Zuko’s cheeks were starting to hurt from the amount of wide smiles that had been crossing his face that night. “I wish. No, it’s, uh. It’s funny cause, uh. Heh. Six of swords is about transition.”

Sokka snorted.

“Yeah, on brand,” Zuko grinned. 

“So the doctor needs _six_ swords for top surgery,” Sokka mused seriously. 

The six of swords also represented shedding baggage in favor of moving towards a place of safety. Even with the booze to embolden him, Zuko didn’t have the means to articulate to Sokka that _Sokka_ was the place of safety, that leaving behind all the weight of the past was less tedious when Sokka was around, that they were the two figures depicted in the card rowing together towards peaceful shores. There was no way for him to say all that. But he could hold him and kiss him, gentle but insistent, and hope that it all would translate.

“Love you,” Zuko whispered against Sokka’s lips. Sokka pulled back to fake a gasp.

“ _Really?_ That’s crazy because guess _what_?”

“What?” Zuko indulged, even though they’d had this conversation a hundred times before.

“ _I_ love _you_.” Sokka declared, and Zuko feigned surprise, jaw dropping. 

“No way.”

“I _know_ , it’s such a coincidence!” 

As much as Zuko wanted to root himself where he was and kiss Sokka forever, the dry feeling at the back of his throat reminded him that he needed to make a responsible choice.

“I’ve gotta go get us some water,” Zuko said, getting up from the couch with only minor difficulty. “Please don’t buy a sword on craigslist before I come back.”

Sokka’s eyes lit up, flicking dangerously to his laptop. “I make no such promise,” he beamed. “So you better hurry back to me quick!”

(Zuko did.)

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is dedicated to my two bffs sam and elliot. this fic is 75% a hodgepodge of actual ridiculous conversations that we've had with eachother. consider it a love letter to our friendship. ily.
> 
> I LIVE FOR COMMENTS please lmk if you liked this piece of absolute tooth-rotting fluff hehehe
> 
> follow me on tumblr [here](tumblr.com/blog/i-love-your-light)


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